At Old Trafford, Chelsea trailed 2: 0 to Manchester United at half-time. Ancelotti rarely substituted two players in a row. Ramires replaced Mikel for tactical reasons. The Brazilian's offensive contribution was greater than the Nigerian defensive midfielder's. Alex replaced David Luiz, which was probably a punitive move by the coach to "vent his anger."
After the game, Ancelotti used injury as an excuse. "Luiz suffered a little injury during training yesterday. Today he said he was fine, so I sent him to start …"
However, the reason for replacing Luiz at half-time was clear. The Brazilian's mistake led to a lightning-quick loss of the ball, which also put Chelsea in a passive position.
Just 36 seconds into the game, Manchester United launched a counterattack. Luiz did not stick close to the Red Devils striker Hernández in the process of retreating. The subsequent tackle and interception was also unsuccessful, allowing the Mexican to score a solo goal. Seeing this goal, Ancelotti flew into a rage. He even erupted at Luiz, which was rare.
His arms were flailing wildly, his face was angry, and his mouth was shouting something. Ancelotti rarely saw this. The television camera captured the scene of the Italian's anger, and the target was Luiz.
The Brazilian seemed a little aggrieved by the manager's outburst. He muttered, "It's not me, it's not me," as if he wanted to justify the responsibility for the goal.
However, it could be seen that Ancelotti was really angry this time. Less than a minute after the ball was lost, Alex immediately got up and began to move on the sidelines and replaced Luiz at half-time.
Talking about the lightning-quick loss of the ball, Ancelotti calmed down after the game.
"On the field, you can make mistakes …"
Luiz's choice of position when defending the ball was not good. He did not stick close to Hernández at the first moment, and the subsequent tackle could not stop Park Ji-sung's straight pass.
The impact of the goal was decisive. Ancelotti said, "After that, we couldn't immediately clear our heads and let Manchester United play at the climax in the first half."
As for his rare anger, Ancelotti wanted to calm things down after the game. "I'm not angry. I replaced him at the end of the first half. But if I had 10 or 11 players to replace, I would have used them all."
The Italian meant that the whole team did not play well and that it was not one person's fault. But everyone knew what the first goal loss meant.
After joining in the winter, David Luiz quickly became Chelsea's favorite. He scored key goals in succession in the games against Manchester United and Manchester City, especially scoring the Red Devils' goal was of great significance.
However, although the Brazilian was good at attacking, he was also flawed in his defense. Against Fulham, he recklessly gave away a penalty kick, and there were times when he pounced and lost his position in defense.
Ancelotti once reminded the popular Luiz that defense was an area he needed to improve on. He did not expect that in the crucial game at the end of the season, the Italian's worries would come true. Manchester United seized the momentary opportunity and made Chelsea, a Boss-level god, step down from his altar.
If Manchester City and Arsenal had not also lost in the round, Chelsea's qualification for the Champions League would have been in jeopardy. Now, it could not be said that he was firmly on the shore.
There was a miracle in the Premier League this round.
Of the top five teams, except for Manchester United who won the game against Chelsea, the other four teams all lost!
Three of the teams were direct competitors for the Champions League tickets, but they all tacitly lost in the round.
This also made Fleet Street joke that Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester City did not want to play in the Champions League this season. They wanted to single-mindedly attack the next season's Premier League title.
Compared to such news, the sound of reform coming out of Stamford Bridge was more interesting.
The rigorous major newspaper, The Times, published the news that Chelsea was interested in changing the manager with conclusive information.
"After Ancelotti won the Manager of the Month award for the second consecutive year, his good luck came to an abrupt end. The Premier League's best defensive line, which had only conceded 28 goals before, was vulnerable in the face of Manchester United's opening attack. In the first half, he entered the lounge with a score of 0: 2. The Italian probably knew that the general trend was gone.
'I want to stay, but it's not my decision …' Ancelotti said helplessly.
The game against Manchester United was actually his last chance. If he lost, Abramovich was likely to fire the Italian at the end of the season.
Ranieri, who had been fired by Abramovich, called for Ancelotti to stay. 'You can't win something every year …'
Ferguson also expressed sympathy for his colleague. 'I have a lot of respect for Ancelotti. He shouldn't be questioned like this.'
However, the media had already been speculating about Ancelotti's successor. Even before the game against Manchester United, the list of successor managers had been long. Among them, the most eye-catching was Porto's manager, Andre Villas-Boas. The Daily Mail, People, and other media said that the 33-year-old manager had been listed by Abramovich as the number one candidate to replace Ancelotti.
Villas-Boas was unknown before, but now he had begun to become popular. Porto, under his command, had created a series of amazing records. His coaching ability was impressive.
In this season's Portuguese Super League, Porto had achieved 26 wins and 3 draws in 29 rounds so far. They had scored 71 goals and only conceded 16 goals. The suspense of the title had long been eliminated.
Porto had maintained a 36-game unbeaten streak in all competitions, which broke the record of 33 games set under Mourinho's management. They had also swept Villarreal to reach the Europa League final.
In addition, a series of records had been broken by Porto: the record for the highest points in a single season in the Portuguese Super League, 81 points so far, the record for the most consecutive wins in the Portuguese Super League, 16 rounds, and the record for the most points ahead of the second place, 19 points. At a glance, Villas-Boas was simply Mourinho the second. He had shown extraordinary ability and potential at a young age.
In fact, Villas-Boas and Chelsea had a history. He was one of the 'old generals' of the Blues.
When Mourinho was coaching the Blues, Villas-Boas was his assistant and scout. The intelligence gathering during the team's pre-match preparations was completed by Villas-Boas.
During his time with Chelsea, Villas-Boas had a famous insolent performance. In the 04-05 Champions League season, Chelsea had eliminated Barcelona 4-2 at home. Villas-Boas had mocked Rijkaard, Eto 'o and the others after the game, provoking the Barcelona players to almost make a move. His personality was very similar to Mourinho's.
Villas-Boas had heard about Chelsea's interest, but he refused to comment. He was reluctant to be compared with Mourinho.
People think I'm the next 'Special One', but I'm not. I'm just an ordinary manager who benefits from having some top players. Maybe one day I'll become 'the Special One'.
Villas-Boas obviously wanted to keep a low profile, but Abramovich would definitely go all out to pursue such a young genius with signs of Mourinho the second. If he decided to leave in the summer, then Villas-Boas was likely to become the main target of the Russians. In addition to his impressive coaching results, the Portuguese was familiar with the Premier League and Chelsea. He could speak fluent English, and his grandmother was English. He was the ideal candidate for the new manager.
In addition, according to Marca, Chelsea is still in contact with the former Real Madrid manager Mijatović. Arnesen will leave for Hamburg in the summer. Mijatović may be invited by Abramovich to come to Stamford Bridge as the club's director. "
The war of the Premier League season had not yet been extinguished. Another round of revolution at Stamford Bridge was already brewing!
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